Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Radio Daze

In the 80s and well into the 90s, in New York City, on WABC Radio (770AM), which used to carry the Yankees games, there was a well known, late night talk show host named Lynn Samuels, who might have had the worst, most horrible, grating Brooklyn Yente accent I had ever heard in my life. Not only did she used to scream incessantly, she also hated Baseball, and so whenever she was pre-empted for the Yankees, she would scream about that, too.

Suzyn Waldman was the same way, although there was something comforting about her doing the updates on WFAN during that same era. But something about her changed once she started covering the Yankees. That voice became more grating, more high-pitched, and much more difficult to listen to. Perhaps it was because she became the #1 Yankee apologist, or because she fawned over everyone in a Yankee uniform, but I came to start calling her "Queen Yankee." A sad state of affairs for an accomplished woman who was the first female to ever call a Baseball game, when she covered the Mets. This came to a head in 2005, when Waldman took over as the Color Commentator for the Yankee radio broadcast. At this point, the homer ism and the voice and the shrieking became simply unbearable, as evidenced by her bizarre, over-the-top reaction to Roger Clemens' return to the Yankees last Spring (WARNING—make sure your speakers are turned down low if you click that link!).

Now, with the Yankees having been eliminated by Cleveland (more schadenfreude, especially with several relatives of Mets2Moon residing in Cleveland), Suzyn is at it again, coming back to the radio booth in tears after she sat in for a few minutes of Torre's postgame press conference. El Guapo believes she is sincere in her sadness over Torre's impending departure (which is another topic for another blog). I believe she's sad, but I also believe that perhaps working with Sterling has made her just go over the top with everything. This from the woman who all but accused the Indians of planting the flies in their stadium in order to deliberately distract Joba last Friday. I don't know what other people's reactions are. I suppose most Mets fans, if they were listening at all, reacted as I did—hysterical laughter.

Howie Rose might have screamed and yelled (as he did in 1999, when he destroyed Kenny Rogers on FSNY). But at least he didn't cry. There's no crying in Baseball.

2 comments:

I think it's a side effect of the YES Network Re-Education Program they make their announcers attend. Al Leiter sent an identical twin in his place because he was afraid of the injections, but I think they're on to him.